The Failure Of Survival In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

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Within us all, there is a drive to live; an instinct to survive at all costs. This instinct may push one to their limits, and cause them to do anything in order to survive. In the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel, this is a common theme throughout the entirety of the story. Pi explains this lifesaving instinct in the tenth chapter of the novel, “All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive.” (Martel 41). In this quote, the will to live is described as a madness, which it very well can be, but it keeps one’s mind and body in a state that allows any challenge to be overcome. In Life of Pi, Pi Patel has multiple experiences in which he is forced to defy his lifelong beliefs, his conscience, and his human nature, and in my life I faced similar challenges, though our means of survival are different, nothing which aided our survival could be considered insignificant, The most major challenge Pi faces during his time at sea is deciding whether his survival is worth killing animals to keep himself nourished, rather than starving while sticking to his typical vegetarian lifestyle. Pi, a lifelong vegetarian, tries to sustain himself on only the calorie-rich crackers he found in the locker …show more content…
Pi’s survival and the tactics he used were all in an effort to save his body, and to prevent himself from an imminent death. In my survival, I was holding together all the pieces that broke when my family fell apart in an effort to preserve what I could, including my emotions and my personal life. Though we were protecting different aspects of our lives to make it through the struggle we were presented, both of us had to find something to cling to in order to keep ourselves in a state where survival was

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